During production, flow from a given formation eventually begins to taper off. Gas lift techniques have been used to obtain additional production when such situations occur. Wells are typically run with a tubing safety valve which can be actuated from the surface by control lines which extend down to a particular segment of the casing. In some designs, the tubing safety valve is actuable by a series of two control lines which run outside the casing and through the casing wall in a section in which the tubing safety valve is to be mounted. When converting a pre-existing well having two connections for a tubing safety valve to future operation by gas lift, a tubing safety valve is used in conjunction with an annular-type safety valve. Since the pre-existing section of the casing has only two connections at a fixed interval, an insert is required that will operate with the pre-existing connections in the locations already in the casing to allow the necessary operations of the tubing safety valve and the annular safety valve to facilitate the continuing operation by gas lift.
Accordingly, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide for an insert that can be located and secured in the proper position which allows for independent operation of the tubing safety valve and the annular safety valve. In addition, if one of the pre-existing control lines to the casing section becomes obstructed, the insert has as an objective features which will allow the continuing operation independently of the tubing safety valve from the annular safety valve with some minor modifications to the insert, itself. As another object, the insert has an emergency release provision which facilitates simple removal when the standard removal techniques do not result in a release. Another object of the insert tool of the present invention is to provide a fast and simple way to reconfigure the tool to allow independent operation of the tubing safety valve and the annular safety valve in the event one of the control lines becomes obstructed. These objects and how they are achieved can be better understood by a review of drawings and description of the preferred embodiment.